Companion Coffee Shop: Riddles in Time
by HelenaHermione
Summary: Continuation of 'The Companion Coffee Shop'; in 2008, the retired companions, after the big reunion, have returned to their normal lives, but the Doctors, and their current companions of different eras, are not through with them yet. Old,New Who. (Torchwood is involved, but not too much.)
1. Paradox

One cold, misty night in Cardiff, Captain Jack Harkness wandered through the backstreets and alleyways, tracking down a newly arrived Weevil who had just started terrorizing this part of the city. "Anything on the CCTV nearby?" He asked through his hands-free ear-piece.

"Negative." Tosh's voice said as he heard her fingers tapping on a keyboard and clicking with a mouse. "Mostly it's just normal foot traffic, people coming back from clubs and pubs, and a few cabs and delivery vans. No sign of any abnormal activity." He waited a few seconds as he heard a catch in her voice, and finally she continued, "There may be something wrong a few streets down, just off of Charles. I could have sworn I saw a man go into an alleyway, but he hasn't come out the other side yet."

"I'll go check it out." He said, though he already knew what he would find before he got there; another dead body. Another mess for the local police to clean up, another mystery that they would never solve for them, unable to offer consolation to the victim's family. Gwen wouldn't like this one bit.

However, when he arrived on the scene, he did see something unexpected; three figures surrounding the dead body, two of them standing at a remove, an athletic blond woman in her twenties, dressed in grungy 90s clothes, and a man in his early thirties, with thinning black hair and a small paunch in his belly, dressed in some retro 60s style, and the third kneeling, examining the body closely. Jack paused, riveted enough by the oddity of the scene that he didn't want to make a sound and disturb it just yet. The kneeling man had a mane of curly brown hair, which reminded Jack of Byron for some reason, with a chiseled, broad face, a cravat and Edwardian (or was it old American Western?) clothes.

"What do you think happened?" The woman asked. "Rabid monster?"

"Yes, I suppose that would be my guess." The kneeling man said, lifting his head and showing them, "As you can tell by the teeth marks here, and here, and shreds of skin along the edges, the creature attacked and killed this man and tried to consume him before he was frightened off, perhaps by our arrival." He continued his examination.

"Disgusting. Enough to put you off your food." The other man said, fumbling for a cigarette and lighter.

"Don't you dare, Fitz!" The woman cried, slapping the lighter out of his hands. "This is no time for your nicotine addiction!"

"Hey, that was my last one!" Fitz cried, turning around and squatting on the ground as he scanned for any sign of the lighter before he sighed. "Oh, great, now I have to go find a place that sells them and get some money for it. I don't even know if they still have these around!"

"Serves you right." The woman said.

"Hey, Doctor, can you lend me a pound or two?" Fitz asked. "I'm sure they can't cost much more then that, not even in this time period."

Captain Jack's eyes widened, wondering if it could be the same, as the Eighth Doctor said, "Will you two please quit squabbling?" raising his head and raising a small device in his hand, which Captain Jack thought he recognized.

"Sam started it." Fitz interjected.

"I'm only trying to help save his life." Sam said.

"Chicks and their hang-ups, man, it never goes away." Fitz said before he turned on Sam. "I don't bang on you for your activist tendencies."

"I'm only trying to save the world here, any way I can!" Sam cried.

"Please, this is a delicate procedure." The Eighth Doctor insisted. "The body's degrading, the creature might return with friends to devour the carcass and us, the police or other authorities are bound to stumble onto this and there is already someone watching us right now." He added, pointing at Jack.

Captain Jack sighed, he should have known that even this early version of the Doctor would be aware of him, a fixed point in time, as Sam and Fitz turned around, staring at him in shock. "Should we be executing plan 42 right now?" Sam asked the Doctor.

"Plan 42." Fitz scoffed. "I bet that means run away, right? I may not have been time-traveling as long as you two have, but I can figure things out quickly enough."

"No, I think he is a friend." The Eighth Doctor said, standing up and facing Jack. "Leastways, my past and future selves think so. Captain Jack Harkness, am I correct?"

"Hello, Doctor." Captain Jack said, walking over towards them. "Yes, you're right. Funny you should mention authorities…I suppose I am one of them with my merry band of misfits." He added as Sam and Fitz glanced at each other, mouthing the word 'misfits' with an obscure expression from the Doctor, caught between amusement and disapproval.

"Very funny." Tosh said over the wireless headset, listening to this conversation.

"I've been tracking down the creature that caused this, and he does have a lot of friends here in Cardiff." Captain Jack said.

"Who would expect that in a Welsh town?" Fitz asked.

"They come through the rift near here." Jack said. "We try to contain and control the situation as best we can to prevent such needless deaths, but you can't always control these things."

"You can always try harder if need be." The Doctor said as Sam nodded vigorously. "Maybe even warn people of the danger they face."

"You know that it doesn't always work out that way." Jack said. "Everything changes now, in this century, but people aren't ready for it yet."

"Who are you to judge?" Sam asked. "You don't know what people are capable of until you give them a chance to prove themselves."

Captain Jack sighed. "Do you always travel with optimists, Doctor? Anyway, it's late and I suggest you three should get out of here. Go back to the TARDIS for once in your lives, Doctor, instead of explore."

"He's a sensible bloke." Fitz said.

"I cannot." The Doctor said. "If you know me, Jack, then you know that I'm going to stay until we solve this problem. I won't leave before then."

Jack sighed and said, "Then if you are staying, come back with me to headquarters and check out the situation there. I would feel better, at least, if these two kids had some shelter tonight."

"Kids!" Fitz cried. "You're not that much older than me!"

"Want to bet?" Captain Jack asked. "As I figure, I'm a couple of decades shy of 200, although the Time Agency may have fudged more than two years of my memories."

Sam gaped at him and said, "You look well preserved."

"Thanks, I get that a lot." Captain Jack said, grinning.

"All right, I suppose we'll come and see it." The Doctor said.

"Great. Come on, my SUV is parked a block or so from here. I'll alert the authorities about what has happened. The Weevils should be scared off from touching the body again. Tosh?" He said, clicking his headset.

"Tosh? What is he talking about?" Fitz asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think he's on the phone." Sam said.

"Are you sure that this is such a good idea?" Tosh asked Jack.

"I trust them, they won't be that much trouble." Jack told her. Within an hour, Captain Jack, the Eighth Doctor, Sam and Fitz had arrived at the Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff's Millennium Centre. "Wow, this is amazing." Fitz said, glancing around the great expanse. "I never imagined Cardiff could look like this."

"You two, Sam and Fitz, go on ahead towards that water fountain!" Jack said. "My friend Ianto should be there. He'll take you down the guest lift."

"There's a lift? In the middle of this plass?" Sam asked, and with a nod from Jack, she and Fitz rushed off towards the fountain to see what that was about. Captain Jack Harkness and the Eighth Doctor, meanwhile, slowed down and faced one another.

"You're a fixed point…" The Eighth Doctor started to say.

"I know that, and you have no shadow." Jack said, staring at him. "I thought it was just a trick of the light or the shadows in the alleyway, but it's more obvious here, now, with all of the lights, and I bet it's even more blatant in daylight. Who are you? Are you really the Doctor?"

The Eighth Doctor sighed and said, "Have you ever heard of Faction Paradox?"

"Rumors. Gossip. Bit of myth." Captain Jack said. "A time cult of some kind that worshipped temporal chaos."

"They're real. They do exist, in my own era." The Eighth Doctor said. "They create and thrive on chaos, ritual, perversity, blood magic and temporal paradoxes to extreme degrees. A paradox is a break in the laws of time, the laws of my own people, something that should not exist, and yet it does. The grandfather paradox is an excellent example of this, in which a time traveler goes back in time and kills their grandfather or another ancestor before the time traveler could ever be conceived. It's also one of the rituals employed by Faction Paradox for incoming members. Every member of that group has subverted and effectively erased his or her past, not to mention the pasts of countless others, in some way, shape, or form, yet they still exist, living paradoxes without any shadows."

"Did you join them?" Jack asked, horrified.

"No. But they got to me somehow." The Eighth Doctor said. "They've done something to me, changed me and my past, and now…I am not totally corrupted. But it's only a matter of time."

"How could this have happened?" Jack asked. "How could such a group have formed or have any power?"

"They have been around, though not as powerful as this, just a theory or a motley crew on the edges of Time Lord society." The Doctor said. "They grew more powerful and popular, though, in this most recent era, and started to spread across the galaxy as…something is coming." The Eighth Doctor said, looking up at Jack. "We have felt the rippling effects of this event for ages now, but it is truly coming to fruition, the titanic struggle that will rip apart the universe, destroy billions of stars, and regenerate everything all over again. An endless cycle of Gallifrey and other planets being destroyed and reborn over and over again, extinction and regeneration at the heart of the oncoming storm. The Time War against the Enemy, whoever that may be. There will always be an Enemy of some kind."

Jack stared at the Doctor. "The Time War?" He asked.

"Do you know about it?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"No." Jack managed to say.

"Right." The Eighth Doctor said, heading towards the spot where Sam and Fitz had long since disappeared from, as Jack remained standing, staring off towards Millennium Stadium. "Jack!" The Doctor cried. "I need a lift operator."

"Right." Jack said, following after him.


	2. London Eyesore

Proper introduction...welcome to Companion Coffee Shop: Riddles in Time, a sequel to my long running The Companion Coffee Shop. The second arc of The Companion Coffee Shop, Time Convergeance, featured all of the coffee shop companions meeting multiple Doctors, although some companions didn't get the chance to really know/meet other Doctors, and I did not include some other companions, which might have been missed. So I'm continuing Time Convergeance, in a sense, although Riddles in Time will deal with a separate problem than Theologians of the 4th Quarter and Cybermen, though I don't really know what yet.

P.S. Um...some past companion/Doctor pairings may be similar to the Prisoners in Time comic, but I can't help it...these are some of the best companions, in my opinion, favorites for me at least and I wanted the right mix of them. Plus, fairly limited as to what companion/Doctor pairings are available when in some regards.

* * *

**2. London Eyesore**

Barbara hummed softly to herself as she folded some clothes and heard footsteps approaching behind her. She didn't move and pretended not to hear, continuing with her work, until she felt him standing right behind her and his hands moving over her eyes. "Guess who?" He asked.

"Well, now, let me see," She said, pretending to consider the problem. "We are stranded in a vessel which travels through time and space, and last time I counted, there were four of us, including me. Two of them are men, as I am sure you are, when your hands are large and your voice is deep, so you must be…the Doctor?"

"The Doctor!" Ian cried, removing his hands as Barbara laughed and turned around to face him staring at her, aghast. "How can you mistake me for the Doctor! My hands aren't that wrinkled yet, are they?"

"No, they're not," Barbara said, leaning forward to kiss him. "I was just joking."

"For a second there, I almost believed you." Ian said. "If we stay in this TARDIS for much longer, I fear that I may start turning into the Doctor. Can you imagine that?" He asked before clearing his throat and doing his best Doctor impression. "I say there, my dear boy, would you kindly help me remove the lid of this sarcophagus? There's a good chap…confound it! Chesterfield…" Ian said as Barbara broke down laughing.

"Please stop that now, before he catches us." Barbara said, glancing around. "This is his ship, after all, I don't want him to throw us off."

"Oh, you know he won't, he hasn't threatened to do that to us in ages." Ian said. "Ever since Susan…left, and Vicki joined us," Ian said, not wanting to mention that Susan had practically been abandoned by the Doctor, "He has been kinder to us. I think he has warmed up to us."

"Yes, I hope so, otherwise he wouldn't excuse that." Barbara said.

Ian sat down on one of the beds and sighed. "Well, we have put up with a lot with him, so he should give us a break. Giant insects. What a nightmare." He remarked, shaking his head. "I felt like we had been shrunk again." Barbara laughed as he continued, "You know, in spite of everything that we did to help the Menoptera and the Optera fight the Zarbi and the Animus, the one thing that really affected me most of all was when one of the Optera sacrificed herself so that the rest of us would live, and they didn't even mourn her. They just moved on. Cold, callous, cruel and unfeeling. That is the truth of the universe that we have seen ever since we started traveling with the Doctor."

* * *

Barbara sighed. "You may be right there, especially when speaking about the Daleks, but it hasn't been all bad, has it?" She asked. "We have suffered a lot, but we have seen some wondrous things that no one else on Earth or in our own time period have seen. We have been to so many different places and times, it's hard to count how many times off the top of my head that I have been caught breathless with wonder and amazement at the sight of it all. My head's still reeling and it's been reeling ever since we got on board. Don't you feel the same way?" She asked him.

"Well, yes, it's all well and good to get caught up every now and then in the fun and thrill of it all, but we've got to keep our heads or else we're liable to lose them!" Ian cried. "We can't completely lose control of who we are and where we come from. And someday, if we survive this and if the Doctor is willing to let us go and if we are lucky enough to land in the right time and place…then we'll be home again." He said. "Don't you want to go back home again?"

"Not straight away, not this very minute, but yes, Ian, I do want to go home, eventually." Barbara said as he gaped at her. "Did you ever get the chance to see one of those temples of light that the Menoptera had?" She asked, trying to change the subject. "It was very beautiful. I could actually believe that they weave songs in there."

"Oh, it's hopeless, is it not?" Ian asked. "I've lost you."

"Oh, no, you haven't! Now tell me, Ian, surely there is something that you enjoyed doing, even if it was a little scary?" Barbara asked.

"Well…to tell you the truth, even though my life was on the line, or my friend's…" Ian grimaced and then smiled. "I sort of enjoyed being a Roman gladiator, fighting before emperor Nero and you. Ben-Hur doesn't have anything on me, does he?" He asked.

"No, he certainly doesn't!" Barbara said and laughed.

"It may be funny to you now, but I was really into it, especially with my life on the line. I hope that, wherever or whenever we do go next, I want to go somewhere where they have proper sword-fighting so that I can train some more." Ian told her. "I have been getting good at it. I actually like being in combat sometimes."

Barbara frowned. "That's not a good thing, though." She said.

"I know." Ian said, looking down. "I get so restless and agitated sometimes, the longer we remain stuck on the TARDIS, that I feel like fighting anything or anyone that comes my way. Plus, you were in danger, too, Barbara." He said, turning to her. "Nero did threaten you. I tried to save you then, but I couldn't…I had to get you out of there."

"To return to the villa?" Barbara asked.

"Exactly." Ian said, staring at her.

* * *

"Eh-hmm!" They heard, and turned around to face the first Doctor himself, wearing his shirt, cravat, and suspenders. "If you two would kindly join me and Vicki in the console room, we are about to making a landing." He told them, gesturing out the doorway.

"Right." Ian said, annoyed at being disrupted like this.

"Ugh." Barbara said, sitting down on the bed.

"Is something the matter?" The Doctor asked, as Ian turned to her with concern.

"I'm fine, just a bit queasy all of a sudden." Barbara said, shaking her head. "You two go on ahead, I'll catch up in a bit. Maybe I should lie down." She said, easing back into bed.

"Barbara, are you sure?" Ian asked.

"Just go." Barbara said, waving him off.

"All right…" Ian said, walking away. "I'll go check on Vicki."

"Is there anything I can do, Barbara?" The Doctor asked when they were alone.

"No, Doctor, it'll probably go away with a little bed-rest." She smirked to herself. "If you were a real medical doctor, you would know."

"Hmm. Perhaps that episode with the Animus, fighting off its control, wore you out more than you realize." The Doctor said. "Vicki and I, we were trapped there, helpless and unable to move as it tried to steal all of the secrets of the TARDIS and the universe from us. Yet I was conscious enough to notice you when you came in with that Isotope, bent on destroying that monster, yet you were helpless to overcome its control until you saw…Ian. You had assumed he was dead, didn't you?" The Doctor asked.

"No, it was just that it had been so long since we got separated…I wasn't sure." Barbara said. "I was very glad, though."

"Of course you were." The Doctor sighed. "You and Ian are both very strong, especially together. Well, I shall get back to the console room, make sure that they haven't broken anything in my absence. We don't want a repeat of what happened last time that happened, do we?"

"Oh, certainly not, that was insanity." Barbara remarked.

"Indeed. Well, have a good rest." The Doctor said. "See you soon." He left the room, and returned to the console room to find Vicki and Ian arguing. "Children." He muttered to himself, tut-tutting and shaking his head. "Now, what seems to be the problem?" He asked them.

* * *

"Vicki has gotten it wrong again…" Ian said.

"It's right, I'm telling you, it's right!" Vicki cried, showing the Doctor the monitor. "See?" She asked him.

The Doctor peered at the monitor. "What am I looking at here?" He asked.

"It's London." Vicki said.

"No, it's not!" Ian cried. "I know London, past, present, and future, and that is not London! It doesn't belong there!"

"It does so!" Vicki cried. "It was installed there near the beginning of the 21st century."

"Oh, wait a moment, I'm remembering something." The Doctor said, peering at the monitor again. "Yes, it does look familiar to me. What's it called again?" He asked.

"The London Eye." Vicki said.

"You mean that thing is right in the middle of London!" Ian cried, aghast. "An eyesore?"

"Yes, it was a very popular tourist attraction for years until it was torn down." The Doctor said, nodding.

"A ferris wheel." Ian reinterated.

"It's quite more than that, my dear boy." The Doctor said, chuckling. "It's a lot of fun in those little glass booths. Come on, I'll show you. Let's go out and take a ride." He said, laughing as he pulled the door lever and headed towards the opening TARDIS doors, grabbing his cane, coat, and hat on the coat-stand.

"Oh, boy!" Vicki cried, going after him.

"Wait a minute, what about Barbara?" Ian asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I almost forgot." The Doctor said and then hesitated. "Well, I don't think a ferris wheel would be very good to her stomach right now. She needs to rest, you know."

"Is she all right?" Vicki asked, concerned.

"Don't worry, she'll be right as rain soon. Maybe she'll come join us in a bit." The Doctor said. "In any case, we won't be gone long. She won't miss us."

Ian hesitated and finally he said, "All right, Doctor, I'll come with. I'll leave a note, though, just in case." He grabbed a piece of paper, quickly jotted down, 'Went out to London ferris wheel' and stuck it on the monitor. There ought to be a better way of leaving messages, but Ian had never figured out what sort of future technologies could aid him in this endeavor.

* * *

"By the way, Vicki, do you happen to know what year is it?" The Doctor asked her as they waited for Ian on the TARDIS threshold.

"2008 according to the British Earth calendar." Vicki told him.

"2008…yes, I have been here before." The Doctor murmured, staring outside before he stepped out of the TARDIS, which was parked a couple of blocks away from the London Eye on a sidewalk next to the Thames. Pedestrians, some of whom were tourists, but most were residents, walked past the TARDIS without really noticing it, although one or two glanced at the Doctor himself with a curious stare. "I was here with Susan before we traveled to 1963, and met Ian and Barbara." He said. "We rode that ferris wheel several times." Ian, still inside the TARDIS, paused as he overheard the Doctor talking.

"Really?" Vicki said, following after him. "You never say very much about…Susan." She said. Personally, Ian thought that the Doctor never said very much about himself or Susan before he had met Ian and Barbara. Once or twice, Ian had wondered what sort of world the Doctor and Susan came from, if they had other machines like the Doctor's TARDIS there, but he knew not to pry and the Doctor probably would never divulge the information unless necessary. The circumstances of their departure had apparently been shameful or disastrous, from what little Ian had gathered.

"She was a dear, sweet girl, but it was time for her to go." The Doctor sighed. "Just as it will be time for…" He frowned to himself. "You know, the oddest thing happened, last time I was here with Susan. We got separated and I searched for her for hours. I was desperate and frightened, worried that something had happened to her and that I was alone, on a strange alien planet in a strange time, but she returned to me. She said that she had been in trouble, but some people had rescued her." Ian walked out of the TARDIS unnoticed by the other two as the Doctor continued.

"Did you get to meet them? Who were they?" Vicki asked.

"I didn't really meet them, but I saw them and I recognized them, several of them. They were…" The Doctor remembered all of those faces, the crowd of people staring solemnly at him and Susan, and knew that some of them belonged to him, his future incarnations, even though it went against the First Law of Time. But there was one face, an old human woman's face, in particular…could that have been Barbara?

"What, Doctor?" Vicki asked, unnerved by the Doctor's uncanny silence and look of dismay.

"Never mind." The Doctor said, shaking his head. "Let's forget it, and just enjoy the day." He murmured, walking off with his cane plodding on the ground. "Come, Chesterfield! Vicki!"

"Chesterton. My name is Chesterton." Ian grumbled as Vicki laughed before they followed after the old man towards the London Eye.

"Yes, yes, I know." The Doctor said, shaking his head.

* * *

The trio were an uncanny sight, walking down the sidewalk towards the London Eye, with Vicki and Ian glancing around and marveling the unfamiliar and occasionally familiar London landmarks while the Doctor plodded on ahead, focused on their destination. However, at one point, a young woman racing through the crowd bumped into Ian and almost lost her balance, falling towards the river barrier, but Ian grabbed her and pulled her up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She cried, shaking her head.

"Watch where you're going!" Ian cried. "You could have hurt yourself." The Doctor had paused and turned around to watch the sight with some amusement and interest.

"Thank you for helping." The young woman said.

"What's the matter?" Vicki asked. "Why were you running so fast?"

"I was trying to get away…" The young woman said, and then paused as she noticed who was watching her.

"Do I know you?" The Doctor asked.

"No, I don't think so, not yet." Clara said. "Good-bye, Doctor." She added for her own amusement, and then ran off before anyone could say anything.

"Doctor, she…" Ian started to say.

"I know." The Doctor said, frowning.

"But how did she know?" Ian asked.

"Like she said, I have not met her yet, but she has met me already. Although I still think she looks familiar to me." The Doctor shook his head.

"Should we go after her and find out?" Vicki asked.

"No, no, I think that whatever is chasing her, and with the way she was running, there is bound to be something, we should stay well put out of it. Especially if it's something to do with my future." The Doctor remarked.

"Doctor, is it likely that you would encounter somebody from your future?" Ian asked.

"My dear boy, it's possible, anything is possible. Haven't you learned that already?" The Doctor said with a laugh and wandered off again. "Come on, to the London Eye!"

"Time travel, I'm never going to get used to it." Ian said, shaking his head.

"Me, too," Vicki added before they continued.

* * *

A short distance away, Clara turned the corner into an alleyway and asked, "Is it all set?"

"The trap is laid." The Twelfth Doctor said, jiggery-pokering a small device with his sonic screwdriver. "Now all we have to do is wait." He laid the device down on the ground and switched it on before moving off to the side, waving for Clara to come over and join him. "Hopefully they won't be able to resist."

"By the way, I think I ran by your first self down by the Thames." Clara added as she joined him.

"Really?" The Twelfth Doctor asked, glancing at her. "What did I look like?"

"Old with wispy white, balding hair, a crooked smile and a gaunt appearance, not to mention hat and cane." She told him. "You were with a younger man, a school-teacher or soldier type, and a young teenage girl."

"Oh, I think…are you referring to Ian or Steven?" The Twelfth Doctor asked. "And was that Susan, Vicki, or Dodo?" He frowned. "It couldn't be Ben or Polly."

"You have a confusing life, don't you?" Clara remarked.

"Yes, I do." The Twelfth Doctor muttered. "And it gets stranger."

* * *

And it continues. Very strange. (I don't know how long this story will run. Companion Coffee Shop ran from 2007 to 2013, for goodness sake, with occasional updates, so...maybe, by the time I finish this, the 12th Doctor will really be on TV. Most likely will run through 50th anniversary and Christmas.)


	3. My Highlander

Good grief, two weeks until The Day of the Doctor...uh, so I decided to finally update this before the anniversary. I may be able to squeeze in another chapter before then, hopefully. Anyway, I decided to go with a favorite! I'm afraid it is a little Jamie-centric.

* * *

**3. My Highlander**

For several months now, Jamie had been meaning to clean up the mess that had accumulated in his room of all the things that he had collected in the year or so that he had traveled with the Doctor, but of course, nothing came out of his intentions when there was always some trouble or adventure just around the corner to distract him from his monumental task. Now that there seemed to be a break, a lull in the action, Jamie settled down to his work, rummaging through his things and organizing them as best he could, putting things away or throwing them out if he didn't like them anymore or they had gotten nasty. (Why had he decided to collect plants? Fruits? Things of that nature?) However, in the middle of all this, Jamie paused and smiled to himself as he finally unearthed something that he had missed most dearly in the past few months. He grabbed his prize with both hands, holding it close to him, and raced into the console room, hoping to find either Zoe or the Doctor there.

Zoe was there, which was a little bit of a disappointment to Jamie, as he had hoped the Doctor would be there as well. The Doctor would appreciate this sort of thing more. Zoe was still relatively new to the TARDIS, and while she was a good girl, very smart and all, and she had helped them out a lot, she seemed to have…well, an attitude of sorts, Jamie supposed one could call it. And more often than not, it seemed like he disappointed her when he wasn't as smart as she was, even though he had saved her life once or twice, or tried to anyway, when she got angry and upset with him.

"Look what I found!" He cried out, still acting enthusiastic as he held up his bagpipes, although he could tell that she wasn't really interested.

"Oh, that's nice." She said, not really paying attention to him as she examined the TARDIS controls and then wrote down several notes in her journal.

"All right then." He said, nodding to himself, before he placed the mouthpiece up to his mouth and started to blow, squeezing the bagpipes for all he was worth, and his heart ached as he listened to the familiar tones of his home in the Highlands.

"Agh!" Zoe cried, covering up her ears with journal and pen. "Jamie, will you please stop that racket? I'm trying to concentrate here!" Zoe said.

Jamie stopped blowing and lowered the mouthpiece. "Racket? That's music! Real, bloody, proper music from my home! I'm a piper, I'm supposed to play, you know. It's what I'm meant to be doing. I should have been practicing and playing for all of these months, but with one thing or another, I just haven't found the time. Not to mention the fact that I just found my instrument again, when it's been lost for ages now."

"I'm happy that you found your instrument again, Jamie, but can you please play it another time? Maybe in another place? Preferably your room or the Doctor's room even?" Zoe asked.

"The Doctor doesn't have a room, at least as far as I'm aware of." Jamie said and then frowned to himself. "Does he? Maybe he does. I haven't seen it, though. He does go off somewhere sometimes, when he isn't in here, but I haven't really thought about following him to find out where he goes."

"Neither have I thought about following him, especially without his permission." Zoe said. "The Doctor knows his way around, and it's a veritable maze in here. I could lose track of him very quickly, I bet, and get lost."

"Don't I know it. I've gotten lost in here a few times." Jamie remarked. "I think the corridors change."

"Right, another reason…" Zoe muttered, looking back over the controls.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Jamie asked, coming over to her.

"I'm trying to memorize the controls and their operations. Just in case the Doctor is ever incapacitated." Zoe remarked.

"Incapacitated? Do you think it's possible?" Jamie asked, slightly worried.

"It's possible, of course it is. Ever since we came back from the Land of Fiction, he hasn't been entirely himself. He seems to be resting a bit more. It was a drain on him, I suppose. Something happened to him in there." Zoe muttered. "In any case, I think we should be prepared, just in case we ever have to pilot the TARDIS by ourselves, or I suppose, if I ever have to pilot the TARDIS by myself."

"What do you mean 'by yourself'? What, do you think I can't pilot the TARDIS just as well as you can?" Jamie asked. "I've been here longer than you have, I know my way around-"

"What does this button do?" Zoe asked, pointing to one of the controls.

Jamie paused, staring at the button and licked his lips. "That button there. That button does…the doors?" He asked.

"No. What about this lever?" Zoe asked, pointing at another control.

"I know this one!" Jamie cried, rubbing his hands and laughing as he stared down at the button. "It makes the time…rotor…thingy go…up and down?" He asked.

"No. Good guess, though." Zoe said and then sighed. "These controls are complex, though, far more advanced than anything I ever encountered on the Wheel, and that was the most advanced space station Earth has ever created. It even overwhelms me, and that is saying something."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "If only we can get you overwhelmed more often."

"Oh, hush. Imagine the technology, the creative genius that went into designing and creating this ship, the imagination and wonder and…it makes me wonder where the Doctor came from. How he got this ship. And just who is he." Zoe whispered. "Or what."

Jamie frowned to himself and glanced around, the questions starting to bother him as well, especially as he had never thought to ask anything like that. He just assumed that the Doctor was a crazy genius, who had created this marvel, but what he was or who he was or where he came from…Jamie never thought much about it, especially when he was overwhelmed, more often than not, by what was going on around him, and trying to adjust to it all.

He still had a rough time, every now and again, trying to fight or run away and understand half of what the people around him were saying, even after a year or two of this crazy, crazy life. He just tried to keep up, that's all. He never asked any questions beyond what was going on, because that was enough of a question for him to handle and deal with. But the questions about the Doctor…those were unfathomable, weren't they?

* * *

"Hey." Jamie said, brightening up a bit as he thought of something. "You know, no matter where he came from, or what he and his people were capable of doing, you still have to figure that…if he was so smart, why can't he do anything right to fix anything?"

Zoe smiled. "I suppose you are right about that, although that does make me worry a little bit more about his capabilities."

"Ah, well, you can't please people all of the time." They heard the Second Doctor's voice say, and froze as they turned to him. "Oh, don't worry, I didn't overhear much." He said, coming over. "Now shoo away a bit, please, I have to make sure everything is set right. We are about to materialize." He said, fumbling with some of the controls and humming to himself, switching on the viewer as well.

Jamie and Zoe stepped back, glancing up at the screen, as Jamie said, "I hope we haven't landed on some space station or underwater base again. I'm starting to get a little sick and tired of being stuck in some base or station with some outside monster menacing us."

"Oh, dear. I can't really help that, can I?" The Doctor asked, turning to Jamie. "It just turns out that way, you know."

"That hasn't happened that much, has it?" Zoe asked, glancing back and forth between the two guys.

"Well, not too much…" The Doctor started to say.

"It has happened quite a bit." Jamie remarked. "First with Ben and Polly, then Victoria, and now with you."

"Jamie. Please don't contradict me like that." The Doctor said, slightly huffy. "It doesn't happen all of the time."

"You have been with the Doctor for awhile, haven't you?" Zoe remarked.

"I can't get rid of him, you know, we're stuck together." The Doctor said. "Best of friends, right?"

"Yes, well, I don't have any place else to go." Jamie remarked. "Home is far away and a long, long time ago. I don't want to get lost out here without a way back. Plus, I do enjoy traveling with him, even though it is quite dangerous, and he can't get my face right when I was jumbled up like a puzzle!"

"The nose was a problem, I do have to admit. I just couldn't get the nose right. Or the eyes. Or the hair. But I was close, right?" The Doctor asked.

"Right enough, and you did eventually get it right, thanks to Zoe, I bet." Jamie remarked.

"You're quite welcome." Zoe said, smiling.

"Even she knows me better than…" Jamie muttered.

"Hold on, just a moment." The Doctor said, glancing up at the screen. "There. We've landed. Come on." He said, heading for the door, grabbing his felt hat on the way.

"Where are we? When are we?" Zoe asked as she and Jamie raced over.

"Earth, London, the year 2008, if I'm not mistaken." The Doctor said as he walked out of the TARDIS and glanced around with the other two following after him. "Yes, this does look familiar. I was around here, at this time period, not that long ago. That was a grand adventure and a half." He remarked as Zoe wandered down the sidewalk a little bit, glancing into windows.

"London, 2008…that's a little over forty years since we were here last." Jamie said, shaking his head. "Amazing. It doesn't look half bad. That Professor Edward Travers, he was talking about some kind of war with the Russians that was going to destroy half the planet, but I don't think…"

"Hey, you two, come over here!" Zoe called, waving them over to a shop window. "This looks interesting."

The Doctor and Jamie came over as Jamie looked at all of the items on display in the window and then stared up at the sign. "What type of store is this? What are they selling?"

"Books, Jamie." The Doctor remarked. "Books have gotten better cover designs over the years. Some of them are already available on tablets as well, like…miniature computers with television screens."

"Oh." Jamie said, recalling some of the vague future technological innovations that he had seen.

"Which one are you pointing at?" The Doctor asked.

"This one, Starry Highlands." Zoe said and grinned. "Look at the name, is that…"

"Victoria?" Jamie said, seeing the name as well.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor said, nodding. "Mr. and Mrs. Harris adopted her, she's now Victoria Wakefield-Harris." Zoe slipped inside the store, meanwhile, and picked up one of the copies on display as she flipped through it.

"But that's…2008. And she was born in the 1800s!" Jamie said, astonished. "What year was it when you dropped her off after the sea-base fiasco?"

"1988 or so. It's been twenty years, Jamie." The Doctor said.

"Twenty years? Has she aged?" Jamie asked.

"Of course she has. Everybody ages." The Doctor said, glancing down as Jamie stared at him in shock.

Zoe opened the bookstore door and read aloud from Victoria's book, so that both Jamie and the Doctor could hear her, "'And so I stood there on the gray shore of the north, the tide rolling in and out as always with its grating roar as my highlander rode away,'" Zoe paused as Jamie felt a lump in his throat, "'back to higher ground near heaven in his village by the loch, while I remained by the tranquil bay, free of fear and yet of so much more. The End.'" Zoe said, closing the book. "She's here, you know." She whispered.

"What?" Jamie asked as the Doctor looked up.

"A book signing today." Zoe said, pointing at the sign displaying the time, date, and author's photograph. "Do you want to go?"

Jamie stared at the picture of Victoria, aged twenty years, but still the sweet-faced young woman that he had known not that long ago…the Doctor and Zoe glanced at each other before Jamie whispered, "All right. Let's go see her."

* * *

Victoria was starting to get a little tired, her hands ached, but she continued scribbling out her name as best she could for one customer-uh, reader-after another, hoping to get a break soon. As another book was laid down before her, she asked, "Who do I make it out to?"

"Jamie." The voice said and she stopped, staring up at…him. And the Second Doctor. And another young woman, standing right behind him. But she was focused on the two boys, who hadn't aged a day since she had last seen them. Her two crazy, hair-brained boys, she used to think of them, out on another adventure in the Doctor's TARDIS…Jamie and the Doctor.

"How long has it been?" Victoria asked him.

"Not very." Jamie said, staring at her. "I'm sorry."

"Time travel for you." Victoria said with a smirk. "It's been long enough for me. Hello, Doctor."

"Hello, Victoria." He said, waving at her as the other woman glanced around, probably feeling awkward about this whole encounter.

"Are you doing okay?" Jamie asked her.

"I'm fine enough. It's been a few hectic years, a lot of alien activity. I've made some friends who used to travel with the Doctor, though. I met Ben and Polly." Victoria said, grinning.

"You did?" Jamie asked, astonished. "How are they?"

"They're married. Ben was an admiral before he retired, Polly used to write columns for the newspaper. They've had some trouble recently, Ben was a little glum and agitated after he met…well, another Doctor."

"Oh dear." The Second Doctor said. "I hope I didn't upset him too much."

"What does that mean?" Jamie asked.

"Did Ben and Polly ever tell you about how the first Doctor that they met changed into this Doctor?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, they did, although it was kind of vague." Jamie said, frowning. "They said he changed. They weren't sure he was the Doctor, but…"

"Well, he's done that, a lot, or he will do that a lot in his future." Victoria remarked. "This Doctor here, he is…the Second Doctor?"

"Yes, thereabouts." He said.

"And there have been eleven Doctors, all gathered in one place, from the First Doctor that Ben and Polly met to the Eleventh Doctor. Eleven Doctors, Jamie. Your Doctor is just one of the first, quite young, as a matter of fact." Victoria said.

"My Doctor…is young?" Jamie said, staring at the other fellow in shock.

"Relatively young. I'm not even middle-age. I do get older. Although I look younger when I get older. Which is quite fascinating, I really must explore that more." The Second Doctor said.

"This is insane." Jamie said.

"Nothing's impossible with him, you should know that by now," Victoria said, and then softened. "It has been good seeing you again, Jamie."

"You, too," He said, lowering his head and shuffling his feet slightly.

"Doctor?" Zoe called and they turned their heads. "What is that?"

They stared at the strange alien creatures dressed in suits that staggered across the bookstore floor, followed by a middle-aged woman in a dress suit, with dark lipstick and eye-shadow, hair gathered in a bun on top of her head, and wearing an eye-patch. "What a touching reunion." The woman, Madame Kovarian, smiled and then frowned. "Take them." She hissed at the alien creatures, who staggered forward once more.

* * *

I know...but I finally came up with some villain ideas! Stay tuned.


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